Homemade Lemonade Concentrate

Making your own tangy, thirst-quenching lemonade is a snap with this easy MinuteMaid copycat recipe for homemade lemonade concentrate.

Who-eeee! The heat has finally found its way Up North. We had a glorious, sunny weekend, with just a touch of sticky humidity before the storms rolled in. That’s perfect timing for rain on a long weekend, if you ask me. The 40 degree temperature fluctuations we’ve had lately are getting old. We really need several concurrent days of good weather.

See, a funny thing happened last week. While Bacon Slayer was doing his usual stalking of local real estate in search of our dream house, set atop rolling acres with a big red barn, he actually found an updated farm house on a smidgen of acreage with a big red barn! We toured the house with the Sons, and almost all of us fell in love with the 1883 charmer. All that was left to do was put in an offer, then start planning the seasonal menu for the pies that I would sell by the side of the road at the new homestead!

Well, that and maybe get our house ready for market so that we could afford to move into said dream house. Pesky details. I believe my thoughts on the matter were along the lines of it’s-perfect-let’s-do-it-holy-crap-we-have-to-get-our-house-picture-perfect-by-the-end-of-the-week-so-someone-doesn’t-steal-our-dream-house! Or something like that. Suffice it to say that the hamster in the wheel in my head was running like a professional marathoner, sprinting toward the finish line. Fresh paint, extra landscaping, as well as a ton of closet purging and organizing needed to happen, pronto!

The warm sunshine coupled with our Weekend DIY Warrior tendencies created a yearning for the kind of thirst-quenching refreshment that only icy cold homemade lemonade can satisfy. However, after 3 trips to various hardware stores for supplies, followed by two quick runs to the local grocer for food and snacks, I was not about to run back out for lemonade concentrate.

No need for another trip anyway. I can make my own homemade lemonade concentrate with just three simple ingredients in under 15 minutes!

It’s worth mentioning that the recipe makes twice the amount of homemade lemonade concentrate for about the cost of one frozen can. So, thirst-quenching satisfaction is at-the-ready and waiting in the refrigerator when the need arises.

By the way, we took another stroll through the farm house, without kiddos, and noticed a few things that might be a little more involved than we’re willing to tackle. Such things are common with a 130+ year old house. Now we have to take a little time-out to sit on the porch while sipping a little homemade lemonade, and discuss whether we want to tackle major new home projects during this season of our lives. Either way, our house is nearly done and ready to list when the right house does come along.

Here’s the recipe for the homemade lemonade concentrate.

♥♥♥

Kirsten Kubert

Yields 1 quart

Homemade Lemonade Concentrate

Bright, tangy, thirst-quenching lemonade is a snap with this easy recipe for homemade lemonade concentrate.

10 minPrep Time

4 minCook Time

14 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

1 1/3 C. granulated sugar

1 1/3 C. water

1 Tbs. minced fresh lemon zest (from 2 medium lemons)

1 1/3 C. freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 8 medium lemons)

Instructions

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan set over medium-low heat.

Slowly bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally, until sugar is completely melted. Remove from heat.

Stir the lemon juice and zest into the simple syrup. Set the concentrate aside to cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, homemade lemon concentrate may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, or frozen for up to two months.

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I need 3/4 cup of lemonade concentrate for a pie recipe. No concentrate on our store’s shelves. All I have in the house is Crystal Lite drink mix and bottled lemon juice. Any chance I can mix something to substitute for the concentrate? I am NOT a cook - obviously! LOL. Appreciate any suggestions!

Hi! I really love lemonade but the real reason I want to make this right now is because I saw a delicious looking lemonade ice cream recipe that requires lemonade concentrate. Unfortunately where I live you can't get it, so do you think this would work for that?

Hi Rosemary! Yes, I absolutely think that you can use this recipe in place of purchased lemonade concentrate in the lemonade ice cream recipe. Let me know how it goes. Lemonade ice cream sounds delicious.

We drink buckets of lemonade in the summertime, but for some odd reason, I've never thought to make concentrate like this. Such a big time-saver!
PS: Good luck with your dream home... hope everything falls into place for you guys. I've always wanted to live in a century-old farmhouse, but they're kind of hard to come by in the city (and no matter how much I try to convince myself otherwise, I'm a live-in-the-city gal through and through). :)

Oh how exciting! I hope you'll get your dream home!! We've been looking for almost exactly the same thing but had to settle for something smaller (long story - we won't be in this area for too long) -- I hope you'll post pictures if you end up buying the house!! I love how simple this lemon concentrate is - can't wait to try it!!

We almost always have a jar of freshly squeezed lemon juice in the fridge, because we totally love lemonade...but now I'm wondering why I've never just jarred the whole base. It would save so much time. Love it!

We are in the same position as you and did found our dream house but unfortunately our house is on the market and hasn't sold yet and we are anxious! we've put in an offer and are waiting to hear if it's accepted and they are willing to wait for us to sell ours, scary stuff but super exciting! Enjoy the lemonade and the searching and mulling over new decisions!

[…] to compliment the meal. I like to use seasonal Meyer lemons to make a quarts upon quarts of this Homemade Lemonade Concentrate. The sweet and tangy sipper is the perfect thirst quencher to compliment most any dish. Why buy the […]

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Meet Kirsten

Focusing on family style food from scratch made as quickly as possible to fit today's active lifestyles. A realistic, balanced approach to healthy living following the 80/20 rule of eating well and indulging in plenty of freshly baked treats. Good food doesn't have to be complicated. I'm here to help! Read More…